Host
by Therm
Summary: UPDATE: Chapter Two added. Someone wants to sort out this mutant problem once and for all. And they may have found a  perfect host for a virus that could wipe out every mutant in it's wake.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Host  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Someone wants to sort out this mutant problem once and for all. And they may have found a perfect host for a virus that could wipe out every mutant in it's wake.  
><strong>Notes:<strong> Set after X-2, but a version where Jeannie didn't die.  
>I've always been a big fan of the zombie horror and wanted to bring that into my latest obsession with the X-Men but I didn't want super slow zombies (which I love, btw), but a different mutant like zombie to fit the mould. Having just watched X-Men First Class, I'm sure certain influences from that film will be seen as well.<br>**Warnings:** Contains horror and gory stuff throughout. You have been warned.  
><strong>AN:** While this may be my first venture into X-Men fanfic, I've wrote many other fanfics' before. I wlecome concrit, especially as I may be off writing some of these characters to start with. I also have no idea where this is going.

**_~'An ineffective virus kills its host. A clever virus stays with it.'~_**

"It was a trap, we walked right into a trap."

Scott Summers paced around angrily in the Professor's office, venting his frustration at their latest mission.

"Scott, sometimes such things happen. I blame myself for not realising anything was amiss before I sent you out."

"It's not your fault professor, but what if things hadn't gone the way they did? We might not have found that boy and it might not have been Logan..."

The professor's face was grim at the reminder. "Hank's coming by, although I've already warned him that Logan's not one who'll take kindly to the interest Hank might have in him medically."

Scott's mouth formed a tight smile at the idea. "I've never seen mutants like that before professor..."

**_*Flashback*_**

_Scott watched one of the mutants run away from the battle before he turned to watch Jean and Ororo escort the young mutant boy away from his captors. Scott had used his optic blast to knock them back and giving them a chance to get away. "Storm, you and Nightcrawler get the boy back to the jet. Jean, where's Logan? We need to leave now!" He yelled out. _

_Jean concentrated for a moment. "He's inside... something's not right, Scott." _

_Scott raced inside the building determined to find Logan and get them all out before the mutants they fought decided to try attacking them again. He had no idea where to find Logan and glanced behind him to where he knew Jean was following, waiting for her to guide him. She concentrated again for a moment, frowning at whatever it was she was sensing wrong. She pointed to the door nearest Scott. "That way."_

_Scott didn't hesitate and barreled through the door. The next room was empty and he kept racing along until he was stopped by the grusome sight in front of him. Logan was down, a mutant with her hands on his head who Scott presumed was the one keeping Logan prone. Nearest too him, the mutant there was actually eating Logan's arm, and Scott saw the flashes on the metal coating Logan's arm. Another mutant was on Logan's other side. Scott thought that maybe that one was eating him as well, but there was no flesh missing. Scott shot at the woman at Logan's head and whatever power she possessed had no affect on Logan now that contact with him had been broken. Scott heard the familiar sound of Logan's claws popping out. Scott blasted the creature the furthest away from him and once Logan's arm was freed of that mutant, he quickly used his arm to swipe away the other creature that was eating him. It didn't get knocked far, and Scott blasted it away, closing the distance between himself and Logan. _

_In battle, Scott didn't usually find himself worrying much about the Wolverine, but this was different. He'd never seen anything quite as horrific as this before. _

_Logan had sat up a little and was inspecting his savaged arm. Scott looked at it briefly but couldn't quite stomach the gory look of it and glanced over to Logan's other arm. All he saw was a couple of puncture marks and it took a moment for him to realise what that meant. _

_"What the hell, is that thing some sort of vampire?" He looked around the room for it and saw it slinking into the shadow. "Damn," Scott muttered more to himself. Turning back to Logan he asked "We need to get out of here now."_

_"Yeah..." Logan replied, not making an attempt to move just yet. He felt drained, not surprising if he had some vampire leeching off of him. He needed to give his body more time, however, he saw Scott didn't understand that he was drained from the experience and felt the need to move rather than admit he needed more time. He started to clamber to his feet when Jean's startled cry alerted both him and Scott to her being in danger. Scott looked to the corner where the vampire creature had been and saw it absent and a chill ran through him of Jean trying to fight it off. He briefly glanced round to see the woman who'd made Logan unable to fight the other mutants off still out cold. For that he was relieved as if Jean still had her powers, she wasn't helpless. _

_Scott raced to the door after Jean. She was in the next room, the vampire creature suspended in mid-air where she held it as she eyed it with startled, wide eyes. It's teeth were bared as it tried to sink it's fangs into her neck yet it could do nothing now but hang in the air helplessly. Scott blasted the creature so hard it smashed through the wall, into the outside. Scott rushed to Jean's side, holding her hand in his as he made sure she was untouched. _

_"Lets get out of here." Scott said. Jean nodded in agreement He helped her to her feet, while shouting through to the next room, "Come on Logan, let's go." _

_"I'll get Kurt to teleport us, it'll be the quickest way." Jean said, as she made psychic contact with the other man. _

_"Logan, come on." Scott yelled again. _

_The sudden sound of Kurt teleporting into the room, made Jean and Scott spin their heads towards the hole that Scott had created when blasting the vampire through the wall. Kurt sat there a moment, before teleporting futher into the room. _

_Logan appeared at the door just then, seemingly ready to go. Jean eyed him carefully. "Are you okay?" _

_He nodded briskly. He might not be okay right at that moment, but by the time they returned to the mansion he was certain he'd be more or less healed. _

_Scott noticed that Logan kept his mauled arm out of sight of Jean and Kurt. _

_"Take Jean first." Scott insisted. Kurt nodded and wrapped his arms around her as he teleported away, a cloud of blue smoke left in his trail. Scott noticed that once they were gone, Logan leaned heavily against the doorway. Maybe he was more hurt that Scott had thought. _

_Before he could wonder any longer, the mutant that had mauled Logan was back, this time grabbing Logan from behind, Scott moved to strike his blast at it, but was unable to get a shot without hitting Logan, the positioning it took kepot most of it's body behind Logan's own. Scott watched horrified as the creature went to sink it's teeth into Logan's neck, but Logan managed to knock it away slightly. He clearly wasn't at full strength though and the creature was back at him quickly. _

_Scott knew he needed to take a shot before the mutant creature got another chance to get close to Logan. His claws were out and although he attemopted to use them to defend himself, he missed his mark more often than not. He saw the creature move in again, getting close enough to Logan again to strike and Scott was about to blast when he suddenly felt like his whole body turned to stone. _

_He dropped down to the ground quickly, unable to move. He was dimmly aware of a cry of pain from Logan, but his own survival was in peril now and he could do little to help his team mate. He realised that the woman who had held Logan earlier had somehow got behind him. Maybe there was more to her mutation than the power she currently held over him. He could still see Logan from where he lay on the ground and realised that the creature had bitten him again, somewhere around his throat or neck. Scott watched in horror as he saw the creature eating the flesh and felt sick at the sight of it, sick that he was unable to do anything to help Logan.  
>Logan's hands were grasping at his throat, Scott wondered if he was even able to breath any more and that thought suddenly made him aware of how this could all become their worst mission. Kurt suddenly re-appeared in the room and saw Scott laying on the floor helpless and Logan attacked. Kurt hadn't been with the team long, but his instincts told him the prone man on the floor was in more danger than the one on his feet. he quickly knocked the woman away and teleported Scott away from the room, back to the Blackbird. <em>

_Logan vaguely had the idea that he was all alone as he struggled for breath which couldn't come to him any longer as his world turned black, he was dimmly aware of the creature taking another chunk of flesh away from him body. _

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first part. This is all I have written for the moment so I'm gonna try and get some more done and hope you like this.  
>Oh, and please bare in mind I don't have a beta, so all lameness is completely my bad. :) Enjoy.<p>

_2._

Logan lounged on the couch the TV on but he wasn't really watching it, more using it as an excuse to be left alone.

He was healing slowly at the minute but he knew that was because he'd lost a lot of blood already. Having his throat ripped out hadn't helped that much. He hadn't been able to speak when he arrived back at the mansion still, which meant he just did what he wanted without having to explain his actions. So for now, he was left alone. They let him heal his way, but it wasn't easy.

His body needed to replace the blood he'd lost first before it did any of the other wounds. He'd heal faster if he could get some food but with his throat still healing that was impossible. Even his mauled arm was still a bloody mess, just covered from sight by one of Xavier's sweatshirts he kept on the lower levels for the X-Men's training sessions.

His eyes felt heavy but he didn't want to sleep here where just anyone could see him, yet the idea of struggling up to his room the way he felt wasn't appealing either. But he knew the healing would take longer if he insisted on fighting the sleep. His body needed to shut down anything it could to speed up the process, get him back to a level where he was able to defend himself again.

But there was something else. Something he tried to ignore.

Some strange feeling moving through him, fighting against him. He'd never felt anything like it before and he didn't like the feeling at all. He wanted it out of him, but he didn't know how or what to do to get it out.

He closed his eyes. Sleep.

Maybe if he just let go for a little while, when he woke again, it'd all be a lot better.

"It's so unfair!"

"Tough!" Scott Summers replied to the teenagers pouting in front of him.

"Why can't you, like, more him to his room?" Jubilee asked.

"Yeah, that's what we want to do, move an injured Wolverine around. Because obviously, he'd take kindly to that."

Jubilee looked at Kitty, who just shrugged. "C'mon, lets go to the mall instead." Kitty suggested.

Jean approached Scott, passing by the two unhappy teenage girls. "Not happy?"

"I kinda see their point, I mean, of all the places to pass out, it's a little awkward." Scott said.

"I'm gonna go and see how he's doing." Jean said, stepping inside the room, her hand running across Scott's stomach as she passed by.

They'd done the best to make the room comfortable for Logan as a temporary place for him to heal. They'd hung some curtains up over the large windows and any other entrances to the room besides the door she'd just entered through was locked from the inside, to keep it quiet and most importantly, to keep the students safe.

Jean knelt down beside the couch where Logan was sprawled. His whole body was gleaming with sweat and when she gently touched his skin, it was hot and clammy. She carefully pulled back the collar to get a better look at his neck and saw it seemed to have healed perfectly, just a slight discolouration of the skin, and checking his arm, she found it the same. She frowned.

He seemed to be healing his wounds fine so she couldn't understand where his fever came from and why his body hadn't healed that yet.

"Scott?" She called gently.

He peered in from outside the room towards her.

"We need to move him."

"What? Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"We just need to be careful. He can't stay here. I want him in the med-lab."

Scott nodded. "Hank should be here within the hour. Can it wait until then? I'd feel better if he were on hand as well to help."

Jean was looking carefully at her patient. "Yeah, it can wait. Just for an hour though. If Hank's any later, I think we should move him anyway."

"He's that bad?" Scott asked, stepping into the room a little futher.

"I just can't understand this fever, Scott. he shouldn't be reacting like this. his bodies healed the wounds, yet he's still sick. That's not right."

Scott found himself mirroring Jean's concerned expression. "I'll see if the Professor can find out where Hank is. The sooner he gets here the better."

Jean nodded absently. "Oh, Scott, on the way back will you bring a damp washcloth and some cold water?"

Scott nodded as he left Jean alone to do the best she could.

Scott made his way towards the Professor's office when he heard someone call his name. He stopped and looked around until he saw Rogue rushing down the stairs towards him, determind to catch him.

He already knew what she wanted before she had to say a word. It may have been the most she'd talked to him since she'd been here, asking how Logan was. The problem was Scott hated giving bad news and that was all he could give her.

Her face had nothing but hope and innocence that she'd managed to hold onto despite all she'd been through in her life. But she seemed to know that this wasn't be good news as soon as Scott looked at her.

"How's Logan?" She asked, her Southern accent thick with worry.

He hesitated, not sure how to give her the news. "Well, Jean said his wounds have healed, but she's a little concerned that he's not awake yet."

Scott noticed Bobby coming down behind Marie, and standing with her as she processed what she'd been told about Logan. "Is there anything we can do?"

"We don't even know what to do right now," Scott admitted. "Although Jean asked me to take her a washcloth and some cool water. If you wanna take that to her, I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

"Oh, yeah sure, c'mon Bobby." Rogue said, grabbing the boys hand in her own gloved hand.

_Logan's eyes snapped open as he glanced at his surroundings. It took him a few seconds to realise he was at the mansion and he could smell Jean close by. _

_"Jean?" _

_"You're awake," she said, as she came into his line of sight. _

_"What happened?" _

_"Don't worry about what happened, you should be more concerned with what's going to happen."_

_"What?"_

_"We want to know what makes you so unique, Wolverine. We want to know all about you."_

_"Jean, you can't be serious." He tried to sit up but she used her powers to push him back down again. _

_"I'm very serious."_

Jean put her hand against Logan's head as he thrashed around on the couch. He felt like he was burning up beneath her touch and she reached out to the professor to find out where Hank was. He inturn reassured her he would find out and afterwards, he'd come and check on her and Logan himself.

A knock at the door made Jean look away from Logan. "Hank?" She called, optimistically.

"It's Marie."

Not who Jean wanted in here right now. When she saw the handle start to turn, she used her telekenisis to stop the girl being able to enter the room. "I'll be right there." She called. She plastered a smile on her face as she opened the door, sure that she probably looked stressed as she felt.

"Scott said to bring some water by and that maybe we could see Logan?"

"I'm sorry, now's not a good time."

Marie felt her cheeks redden a little as anger took over for a moment. "I haven't been able to see him in days. What's going on?"

"Hopefully we'll know more when Hank gets here."

"Who the hell's Hank?"

"He's a doctor and a mutant. He should be able to help."

Rogue looked at Bobby frustrated. A knock at the main door prevented anything from being said.

Jean looked to the pair with a pleading look. "Can you get that? And if it's Hank, send him straight down to the room."

"Come on," Bobby encouraged.

Bobby lead the way as Marie hung back a little, clearly unhappy about being dismissed by Jean. Bobby opened the door, as Marie hung back a little but she quickly took note of who was at the door when she heard Bobby gasp in surprise. Marie took a step back as she saw Magneto and Mystique stood there.

"What do you want?" Bobby asked, positive he didn't sound at all confident in the face of the man.

"Don't worry, I've not come for you, or your girlfriend." Magneto said, smiling in Marie's direction.

She looked suitably annoyed by his presence and kept her distance but refused to move away from the position she stood in.

"Eric?" Charles Xavier said, as he approached the door. "What are you doing here?"

Eric held his hands up slightly, in a mocking surrender pose. "I'm not here for trouble, Charles. See?" And with that he took off the helmet that protected him from Xavier's powers. Invited to do so, Charles searched Eric's mind for any trouble but found none. "We have a problem. One I think you may have already encountered."


End file.
